Check out the article, tell me what you think, and add your own reasons:
Competing in BJJ or Grappling: Why?
Good article. I can not think of any good reasons not to compete. You get a chance to meet a bunch of people who are interested in the same sport you are, and who are in general good people. The ammount you can learn about yourself and your Jiu Jitsu skills by competing with someone who you know nothing about is hard to overstate. On the mat in my school, I have a tendency to work differently with different training partners because of how well I know their skill set. I find myself thinking things like "he wrestled in college so he will take me down at will" or the opposite type thought like "I can always get him in an arm triangle" etc instead of flowing and working with the oppertunities that are presented. With an unknown opponent, you get a blank canvas.
Win- feel good and get excited about training more; lose- learn alot, and get excited about training more to get better...
SC MMA MD - I can not think of any good reasons not to compete.
lack of dollars and an abundance of injuries
I think it depends on why you're training in the first place.
he's right, and more injuries are suffered in training than at competitions IMO
NicolasExitBJJ - he's right, and more injuries are suffered in training than at competitions IMO
Training partners know about your injured areas.
A guy in a comp isn't going to stop guillotining you because your neck's fucked. 
you shouldn't be doing competitions if your neck is fucked
I love competing in ground comps, improves your game massively
Comps are getting expensive, you wait around forever, and you never know if you'll have anyone to compete against.
that being said, i've learned more about the holes in my game by competing than I ever have rolling with the same guys.
BJJ tourneys are too damn expensive. I paid $50 for two matches the last tournament i went to.
That said, I'll do a few more tourneys for the reasons described by you guys.
There is much to learn from competing.
Pro's
You learn a lot
You test yourself
Con's
Its expensive
Its a pain in the ass
Politics
ttt
12SixElbow -
Con's
Its expensive
This is my main reason for not competing at the moment.
ShanTheMan -12SixElbow -
Con's
Its expensive
This is my main reason for not competing at the moment.
Yeah.
The guy who puts on the big Seattle area tourney does it about an hour outside of town.
it starts at 9am, its 70 bucks and it takes all day.
So for a lot of guys, the cost of driving 60 miles,
70 dollars to enter, and missing a day of work just isn't worth it.
Good write-up. Thanks.
ocdacc - Good write-up. Thanks.
Thanks for reading!
It's great to compete...I don't compete at every single event, but it's still good for you to compete. I trained at a school that made it part of the curriculum to advance in belt rankings. I had to compete to get my purple belt, which was an awesome accomplishment.
ttt
expensive and I don't like to lose:)
Got part 2 done (about overcoming nerves). I will post that ASAP (as soon as I figure out where to publish it).